The Watchman is the southernmost sentinel of the Zion Valley. The peak is remarkable in all sorts of ways, but within the Valley it is perhaps most notable for the fact that it is among the most individually distinctive of the major geological features. It’s impossible to avoid being overwelmed by the shear grandeur and scale of the mighty walls of Zion NP.  Focusing on the Watchman provides a more concrete sense of familiarity with this place.  We are constantly aware of the challenges of light and scale in Zion – and of the not so subtle pressure to capture the essence of one of the planet’s great photographical venues. The challenges of light and perspective are greatly amplified here – a narrow valley with 10x too many people in the place, and the legacy of about 100 years of occupation managing to place some unlikely shed, water tower, barn, hotel, what-have-you in the image. The Watchman illustrates the wildness of Zion, and also represents how concise and fragile the valley is. Those who have had the pleasure of wandering around Capitol Reef, Canyonlands, or the seemingly boundless expanse of BLM lands, can appreciate the contrast between the beauty of those places and the special beauty of Zion.

This image is a work in progress – a composite of three images: The main image was shot using a Nikon D700 with the AF-S Nikkor 24-70 mm f/2.8G ED at 48mm, f/16 and 1/40s, an ISO of 200, and WB set using a WhiBal card.  A secondary image was used for the foreground with parameters as previously described except that the shot was made at f/16 and 1/30s.  The WhiBal card was essential in getting the golden light correct, but left the sky too white.  Thus, a third image was added with WB set at daylight to preserve the blueness of the sky.  Layer masks were added to the the three individual images, which were then superposited to generate the final (mostly) balanced result.